You Owe Me
by Kyriana42
Summary: A one-shot based off a scene between Nick, Stephen, and Claudia during Series 1 Episode 5.


**Disclaimer: Don't Own, Don't Sue!**** ;D**

**A/N****: While rewatching Primeval to get ready for Series 4, I got the idea for this fic from a scene in Series 1 Episode 5. No flames please! Enjoy! ^^**

* * *

**You Owe Me**

"It's attracted to red. That's it!" Cutter announced as he looked at Claudia and Stephen.

"I'm gonna need your shirt, Claudia." Cutter spoke with a slight smile.

"Excuse me?" She asked incredulously.

"Your shirt." Cutter repeated.

Claudia scoffed nervously. "Um, no. It's Magenta. It's not even close to red."

"Hurry." Cutter spoke as he turned to a satellite and began to detach a pole as the Pteranodon glided over the city.

Claudia began to unbutton her shirt when Stephen stopped her.

"Wait." Stephen smiled, handing her the tranquilizer gun.

"Forgot about this." He tugged at the red shirt he was wearing underneath his white long-sleeved shirt.

"You owe me." Stephen stated as he removed his top layers to recover the red shirt.

"Thank you." Claudia smiled.

* * *

The exchange was still fresh in Claudia's mind, even if it didn't appear to be the same situation with Stephen.

Claudia sat at her desk sorting paperwork as she watched Stephen joke with Connor and Abby.

Cutter was in a one-on-one meeting with Lester for his recklessness on the last mission with the Pteranodon.

Truth be told, she wasn't exactly sure how return the favor to Stephen for saving her from embarrassment. She realized that she wasn't sorting paperwork anymore, so much as she was sitting there staring at the trio.

She snapped herself out of it and went back to doing paperwork as the trio broke up and went their separate ways, Stephen heading Claudia's way.

* * *

"You guys should head home. It's been a long day." Stephen explained.

"Cool! Can't wait to get back and play some more Oblivion!" Connor cheered with a yawn.

"Actually, Connor, I believe our deal about you doing the cleaning up goes into effect starting today." Abby interrupted him.

"Can't we just" Connor yawned again. "Take a nap first and then worry about our agreement."

Connor's yawn was contagious as both Abby and Stephen yawned.

"Just this once." Abby relented. "Come on, let's go before we have to get Lester's men to drive us home."

"I call you two if anything else comes up." Stephen smiled before going in the opposite direction.

As he turned, he saw Claudia jump and start shuffling papers.

She hadn't been quite herself since earlier that afternoon before the Pteranodon clobbered her.

"Claudia, are you okay?" He asked concerned.

"If I'm being honest, I'm completely exhausted; but I'm stuck here until I finish sorting this paperwork." Claudia sighed.

Stephen looked back and forth between the paperwork and Claudia.

"Tell you what, you head home and I'll finish sorting the paperwork."

"You know I can't do that, Stephen." Claudia replied. "Besides, I'll end up owing you twice."

"Don't be ridiculous, this is a freebie." Stephen answered, taking the papers from Claudia's hands, as he started to sort them.

"The least I can do is buy you a drink?" Claudia asked.

"You don't have to. Besides, you really should get some sleep. Who knows when the next anomaly call will come in?"

"Trust me, after the day I've had, I could _really_ use a drink right now." Claudia spoke, trying to sound energetic.

Claudia wasn't one to break promises and wanted to repay Stephen for saving her from her embarrassment as soon as she possibly could.

* * *

Stephen had given in about going for a drink after he finished helping Claudia with the paperwork. Stephen convinced Claudia to leave her car at the Home Office, insisting that he would find a ride for her the next day.

"So, are you really tired or is it something else?" Stephen asked as he sipped his bottle of beer.

"Considering that I was clobbered by a prehistoric creature, temporarily blinded, and then nearly killed by a swarm of flying creatures, I'd say that I'm doing pretty well for only being exhausted." Claudia snapped.

"Sorry." She spoke after a few moments of silence, taking a sip of her wine.

"No, it's fine." Stephen muttered. "At least things turned out all right in the end, right?"

"Looking at things from an optimist's point of view, yeah, I suppose it did." Claudia laughed.

"We got lucky today, that's all. Could have been a lot worse." Stephen smiled, finishing his drink.

"Could have been, but it wasn't." Claudia responded as the barman set down another round for the pair.

"Thanks, you know, for the drinks and all." Stephen spoke as he began his second drink.

"I should be thanking you."

"For what?" Stephen asked oblivious.

"Oh, yeah." He recalled. "Sorry it didn't matter in the end."

"No one could have predicted that I would slip in that blood."

"Suppose not." Stephen shrugged.

"You know, it's becoming harder to remember what normality was like before the anomalies." Claudia said blankly.

"I think, normality is more or less a state of mind." Stephen spoke, downing some more of his beer. "You know, living in the moment sort of thing. As long as what's happening in that moment feels right."

Claudia lightly slapped him in the arm. "Don't go getting all philosophical on me now, Stephen. The anomalies are nothing to joke about."

"Just trying to level with you." Stephen laughed as he looked at his watch. "We should be heading out. It's getting late."

Claudia looked at her watch as well. "Oh my God, I didn't realize it was already ten pm!"

* * *

The drive to Claudia's flat was mostly silence.

As Stephen pulled up to her flat, he turned to her.

"Thanks, for the drinks and the sense of normality." Stephen chuckled at the last bit.

"I can't believe you laughed at that! I was being completely honest!" Claudia replied incredulously.

"Sorry, it's just that, because all of us are a part of this project, we don't get many chances to just hang out and joke about normality."

"You were joking about what you said about normality then?"

"Of course not." Stephen answered looking out the windshield.

Claudia looked out the windshield and back at Stephen, who was still glancing out the windshield.

Now that she'd repaid her debt to him, she could call it a night.

She leaned toward him to kiss him on the cheek as a thank you; but he turned toward her and their lips made contact.

They were frozen in that position for what seemed like ages, till the realization hit them.

"Sorry, I was just—we're even. See you tomorrow, Stephen." Claudia stuttered, breaking the kiss, as she hopped out of the vehicle, not making eye contact with Stephen.

"I'll have Nick pick you up tomorrow, Claudia." Stephen muttered trying to hide the fact that he was blushing.

As soon as Claudia entered her flat, Stephen drove off, the events still playing through his head.

Tomorrow would be interestingly awkward.

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